False Oat-grass

dark tops of Tall Oat-grass

On the grassy slope below the ox-eye daisies, this grass is beginning to flower. It took quite a bit of microscopic peering to establish that it is probably False (or Tall) Oat-grass (Arrhenatherum elatius).

Looking at how dark it is in the photos, I'm now wondering if the dark grass in the field, which I'd assumed to be "Brown Top" (Common Bent/Agrostis tenuis) is it as well. Better head out in my wellies and grab a sample. Not that it'll be cut for hay any time soon – soggy boggy-tastic at the moment.